How one blogger started a new body positive hashtag that's taking over Instagram selfies

Michhelle Elman, a body-positivity coach, shared a photo and started a popular hashtag on Instagram.

The hashtag is #OneTakeBeauty.

She started the hashtag after realizing how much we fixate on taking the right photo.

The movement involves taking one photo, uploading it, using #OneTakeBeauty, and not caring how many likes you'll get.

She has recieved overwhelming support from her followers.

Body-positivity activist and life coach Michelle Elman posted a photo of herself and asked a simple question:

"When is the last time you took one photo of yourself? Not three. Not five, not 20. One."

Elman was hanging with a friend when she asked her to snap a photo for her Facebook profile picture. After handing her the camera, her friend snapped exactly one picture, and the two went about their day. It wasn't until looking at the photo afterwards that it dawned on Elman just how much we fixate on finding the perfect photo.

"I started noticing people would take forever to capture the perfect photo and even then it's not deemed good enough," Elman told Revelist. "It's almost become a routine when photos are taken, that when the individual sees the photo, the first thing they will do is critique their face; 'urgh I hate my eye' or 'my smile is weird.'"

So she put her 39,000+ followers to a simple task: Post the first photo they'd take, upload it, and stop caring about the likes using #OneTakeBeauty. The response was overwhelming.

Photo after photo, women posted their #OneTakeBeauty selfies, baring their faces (and often in the captions, their souls) for all the world to see.

Many users commented on how much they didn't realize that they were often snapping dozens of photos in order to find the best one. And others commented on how liberating the experience was.

"The moment when it hit me the most was when I went traveling, and I would notice that people spend more time making sure the photo taken in front of the landmark or monument is perfect than actually looking at the landmark itself," Elman shared.

Because, truly, you only get one shot at living in the moment. "This perfection in photos isn't necessary and photos should be used to capture the moment, not your body or face," Elman feels.

Well said, girl! Are you up to the #OneTakeBeauty challenge?

Read the original article on Revelist. Copyright 2017.
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